Canes survive late threat for a region victory; Eagles take down Oakwood Christian

December 14, 2024

Local boys’ basketball teams won two of five games played Friday night.

The Cartersville boys led most of the way but had to come from behind late to squeeze by visiting Hiram. The Excel Christian Academy boys won big in Emerson over visiting Oakwood Christian of Chickamauga. Elsewhere, Cass dropped a home decision to Cedartown, while Woodland fell at Dalton and Adairsville lost at Northwest Whitfield.

CARTERSVILLE BOYS 62, HIRAM 61

The Hornets fought back from a 15-point deficit, got a steal and a layup, and took their first and only lead of the night with 0:32 remaining, but Nas Bennett made a last-second layup that lifted the Canes to a 62-61 region win Friday night at The Storm Center.

Hiram called timeout with 0.9 seconds left and took a three-quarter court shot that missed at the buzzer.

Cartersville led 20-7 after one quarter, 33-16 at halftime, and 48-33 through three quarters before Hiram threatened in the final eight minutes.

Mason McKinney and AJ Williams paced the Hornets with 28 and 21 points, respectively.

Bennett led the Canes with 21 points. Wyatt Thomason scored 12, and Shakai Taylor chipped in nine.

Cartersville (4-3, 2-2) hosts Trion on Saturday at 3 p.m.

EXCEL CHRISTIAN BOYS 75, OAKWOOD 50

The Excel Eagles took control early and stayed unbeaten in region play Friday night with a 75-50 home win over Oakwood Christian.

Excel led 42-23 by halftime and was up 63-35 after three quarters.

Graham Myer led Oakwood (2-8, 0-1) with 25 points.

Jayden Jinks scored 17 points to pace Excel. Kaiyu Huffman posted 14 points. Evan Chappel and Daniel Lewis added ten and nine points, respectively.

ECA (7-4, 2-0) plays at Coahulla Creek on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

CEDARTOWN 65, CASS BOYS 46

The Colonels started quickly Friday night and led Cedartown 23-14 after one quarter, but the Bulldogs’ defense clamped down the remainder of the night to halt Cass 65-46.

Cedartown, who had four players reach double-figure scoring, led 31-29 at halftime and built a 50-39 advantage by the end of the third quarter.

Quinlan Cothran scored a game-high 23 points to pace the Bulldogs (3-6, 1-3) in their first region win. Zane Pasley scored 14 points. Hayden Rittenhouse and Davion Smith added 11.

Comari Nettles score 12 of his 14 points in the first half for Cass. Dylan Miller and Jason Brown added nine and eight points, respectively.

Cass (4-6, 2-2) visits Unity Christian School on Saturday in a 5:30 p.m. start.

DALTON 58, WOODLAND BOYS 28

Injuries to starters Isaiah Livsey and Amir Heath in the first quarter hampered the Wildcats’ effort at Dalton on Friday night in a 58-28 loss.

Dalton improved to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in Region 7-4A.

Jayden Metcalf and Elijah Morris scored nine points for the Wildcats.

Woodland (3-7, 0-3) travels to Cedartown on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip.

NORTHWEST WHITFIELD 59, ADAIRSVILLE BOYS 52

The host Bruins kept their season record spotless on Friday night with a hard-fought 59-52 win over Adairsville in Tunnel Hill.

The Tigers led 13-11 after one quarter before Northwest regained the halftime lead, 28-23. The Bruins maintained a 45-39 advantage entering the final eight minutes.

Caden Ramsey led the Bruins (6-0, 2-0) with 22 points. Gavin Nuckolls scored 11 for the Bruins.

Tre Winters scored 21 points for the Tigers. Ben Abernathy followed with 11, and Tyrek Hames finished with 10. Xavious Nalls added eight.

Adairsville (4-4, 2-1) visits Pope on Friday at 7 p.m.